February 27, 2015

My oldest friend’s 22-year daughter died this week. To be more clear, my friend isn’t old, my friendship with her is—I’ve known her since the fourth grade. Anyway, it’s been a bad week.

She and her husband got a new perspective this week, one that no one really wants. But they were able to find perspective funny the night their daughter died. When they left the hospital that night, they stayed at a local hotel before returning to their hometown the next day. When they checked in, the clerk said, “Oh my gosh I’ve had the WORST day. I forgot my password and . . . (I can’t remember the rest, but you get the idea.) Of course they didn’t tell him what a REALLY bad day is. And they didn’t begrudge him--they just found the humor in the situation.

The little clicking sound on my turn signal is broken in my car. The signal works, and you can see the flashing arrow on the dashboard, but there is no clicking noise to let you know if it’s still on. Today, I was out running errands to help get ready for the memorial service.

At a stoplight, someone behind me in a gray Prius started honking at me. I couldn’t see who was driving so I thought it might be my husband Doug—our other car is a gray Prius. He kept honking so I pulled over to the slower lane after the light changed so I could see who was driving. It wasn’t Doug. The driver rolled down his window and said, “Your blinker was on, your blinker was on, your blinker was on,” and he made little flashing motions with his hands. I said ok and thanked him.

And then I thought how stupid it was for him to honk at me over that. I see little old ladies with their blinkers on all the time and I just deal with it. So what, I’m that little old lady now, so what. I wish I didn’t thank him. I wish I said, “That must have been very annoying.”

In any case, I made a new resolution today. Next time someone is annoying me because they are tailgating me, I’m going to pull over to the slower lane even if they could just pass me in the faster lane. Even if I’m exceeding the speed limit already. Instead of thinking, “What a jerk,” I’m going to think maybe it’s a couple racing to the emergency room because their only daughter, the love of their life, took an overdose of pills.

And next time I see someone with their blinker stuck on, I’m going to think, oh no, there’s a woman who’s preoccupied with worry about a dear friend.

February 04, 2015

A few days ago I read this post suggesting that it’s a mistake to retire at 62. Actually, it sounds like Steve McDonald thinks retirement sucks no matter what age you are. He says the more he learns about retirement, the less he understands “why the heck we are in such a rush to get there.”

I’ll concede that it’s a mistake to retire before you have the money to retire--and of course the longer you work, presumably the more financially ready you will be for retirement. There is that.

But beyond the money, I just don’t think there’s much evidence to support his assertion that retired folks are unsatisfied with retirement:

Do I agree that retirement should land on the list of top 43 stressors along with marriage (#7), marital reconciliation with mate (#9), pregnancy (#12), taking on a mortgage (#20), and outstanding personal achievement (#25)? Sure. But I wouldn’t try and argue that people shouldn’t get married, reconcile with a spouse, have kids, buy a house, or achieve something great. Most people are happy to do all those things. Clearly change, even for the better, can cause stress. But I don’t think work has anything on retirement.

Work satisfaction

That same American Institute of Stress reports that “numerous studies show that job stress is far and away the major source of stress for American adults and that it has escalated progressively over the past few decades.” The studies they site show:

-80% of workers feel stress on the job, nearly half say they need help in learning how to manage stress,

-40% of workers reported their job was very or extremely stressful,

-65% of workers said that workplace stress had caused difficulties, and

-62% routinely find that they end the day with work-related neck pain.

I suppose it’s up for interpretation what “any better than working” is. But I am happier in retirement than I was when I was working. So by that measure, I would say retirement is better than working. I mean if you’re into that whole happiness thing. The actual research shows I am not alone.

-A University of Michigan study shows 62% report being very happy in retirement, 32% moderately happy, and only 7% report being not at all satisfied in retirement.

-An Ameriprise Financial survey shows that 75% of boomers that retired in the last five years say they are very satisfied with retirement. And among those who felt in control of the decision to retire, 98% were satisfied with retirement.

- And a recent Mass Mutual study showed similar results: 72% of retirees report being extremely or quite happy, and 67% say they are extremely or quite relaxed.

Anyway, I guess I’m mostly preaching to the choir here. But if you want to retire, and you have the money, don’t worry. I think you’ll like it better than working.

February 03, 2015

The class isn’t really about living to a specific age as much as it is about being as healthy and vibrant as you possibly can at any age. But if you do what is necessary to achieve that goal, you’ll likely find yourself living longer than if you didn’t take steps to remain healthy and vibrant.

The class is taught by William Bortz, a professor of Medicine at Stanford University. The first night of class Dr. Bortz told us a little about himself. He is 84 years old, takes no medications, and runs one marathon each year. As part of his fitness regime, he runs three times a week—three miles two days a week and 10 miles one day each week. Although, last weekend, he admits he lost steam at nine and one half miles.

He was also quick to address his hand tremor at the first class. I noticed it when he was passing out the latest paper he had published. He explained that he did not, as one former young medical student wrote on his class evaluation, have Parkinson’s disease. He has what is known as benign bla bla bla tremor. He actually named the type of tremor, but of course I can’t remember the medical name for it. So the benign bla bla bla tremor is hereditary, his son has it, his father had it and I think maybe an uncle or someone had it too.

He told us there is a very good drug treatment--Benzo-bla bla bla-something-or-another--one of those names that a young medical student would have written down, but that went right over my head along with the name of his benign tremor. Anyway the drug is extremely effective at treating this type of tremor.

“But,” he told us, “the drug has one big side effect--it wrecks your sex life.” He held out his shaking hand and paused for effect. “So I have a tremor.”

So like I said, the class isn’t just about living a long life, but living a life that’s worth living for as long as you possibly can.

The biology of aging

Dr. Bortz has us approaching the subject of longevity from the standpoint of our biological potential as humans. Thousands of years ago, we had no idea how long this human organism could go since our demise was usually attributed to starvation, predators, accidents, viruses and infections.

Now we don’t have to hunt for our food while simultaneously worrying about being hunted. We have treatments for viruses, infections, and many age-related diseases that we are lucky enough to live long enough to get. So the question of human biological potential is closer to being answered. How long could we live if we were able to keep the human organism in tip-top working shape for as long as possible?

We don’t know exactly but we have one clue from a French woman named Jeanne Calment. Madame Calment lived 164 days past her 122nd birthday. And she was relatively healthy for most of those years, living on her own almost until her 110th birthday. She rode her bicycle until she was 100. She did not suffer from Alzheimer’s. Interestingly, she smoked.

Anyway, this hints that biologically speaking, the human species has longevity potential to somewhere around 122.

January 24, 2015

I'm very excited to report that I have been asked to join the Wall Street Journal's esteemed panel of experts who write about retirement topics on WSJ's blog, The Experts.

I'm taking an adult education class this quarter called "Roadmap to 100," about the keys to longevity. We've only had one class meeting, and already I've got tons of tidbits I want to share with you all.

It continues to amaze me how some people seem so old at 62, while others seem so young at 92. Our professor, an 84-year old former doctor, who runs one marathon a year and is taking no medications, is exploring with us what accounts for those differences in how we age. The great news is you have more influence than you might think.

Anyway, the focus is not so much on making it to a particular age like 100, but to make it to whatever age you're going to make it to in the best condition possible. Increasing the healthy years and minimizing the years spent with debilitating conditions.

Because the goal for most of us is to live independently, on our own terms, for as long as we can. That's the subject of my first post, How the Elderly Can Stay Independent Longer. Hope you'll take a moment to head over there and peruse the posts of all the experts!

January 11, 2015

I’m at a bustling coffee shop today. It looks like one of my New Year’s resolutions is going to run me about 10 bucks a week. That is if I find a different coffee shop with free parking. This one has great coffee and great energy, but it costs another dollar an hour to park here, so maybe this one is not going to work. It probably shouldn't have to cost so much to accomplish my new year’s resolution.

So, I’m going to start with the other resolution first, the one that doesn’t cost anything. In many ways it’s the harder of the two because I haven’t actually figured out the well-intentioned action plan to make this one happen. My uncle inspired this resolution.

I was lamenting to him on New Years Day about how I tried to play my new boogie-woogie song on the piano for my Christmas-dinner guests. I’ve been working on this song for about a month. I have so much fun playing it when no one is at my house. And I play it really well, if I do say so myself.

But in front of people, my hands shake. My tempo speeds up. I trip all over the keys. I can’t do it! I love playing the piano for hours on end by myself. I don’t even feel guilty for not doing something more productive. Then I play in front of people and it sucks. And I don’t love it. And I feel like people are thinking, “Really, you’ve been taking lessons for two years now?” (And in case you didn’t get that tone in writing, it doesn’t read, “Really, you’ve only been taking lessons for two years now?”)

So I asked my uncle, how did you play hymns all those years for church? How did you play those old standards all those years for your Rotary Club meetings? I just don’t see how I’ll ever be able to feel relaxed enough to play even one song in front of people!

He said the key is that you have to not give a shit what people think. And by the way, most of them can’t do what you are doing. So just don’t give a shit. You play because you love to play piano, not because you give a shit what people think.

So there is a resolution that I would like to incorporate into every crevice of my life, not just the part of my life that involves playing a song on the piano in the presence of other human beings.

I'm not really sure how to accomplish this one though. Any advice would be welcome.

Writing a book

Ever since I retired nearly seven years ago, I’ve wanted to write a book, someday. And even some years I have thought, “I’m going to write a book this year.” But then I don’t.

So this year, I’m not necessarily going to write a whole book. And I’m certainly not going to worry about actually publishing a book. For now, the goal is to work on a book regularly.

That’s where the coffee shop comes in. I am going to go to the coffee shop two or three times a week to work on the book. Maybe working at that rate means I’ll have a book in three years, maybe it means six months. Who knows? But I’m committing to the process, and even more importantly to enjoying the process, like I enjoy playing the piano. And I really enjoy writing at the coffee shop.

You may be thinking that I should be able to sit down and write for a few hours a few days a week at home—for free. But you’d be wrong. And you know what they say about insanity, trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

At home is my piano, which we’ve already established tempts me to sit down and play for hours at a time. At home is my actual home, which seems like it always needs to be cleaned, or at least tidied. At home is my yard with weeds and overgrowth. And Wi-Fi--that’s at home too.

Here at the coffee shop it’s just me and my computer. And I already paid the parking meter, so I might as well stay until it expires. Hmmm, that might be a good reason to pay for parking too.

Ok, so here’s how I work on both resolutions at the same time--blogging about it.

I want to write a book about retirement—the kind of book Carrie Bradshaw would write if she wrote about retirement instead of about sex. Or as one journalist who once interviewed me for an article put it: a beach-read about retirement.

My very favorite writing teacher advised a classroom of us aspiring writers to go ahead and write our books but don't tell anyone about it. Everyone will have an opinion that they will want to share with you. People will ask you all the time, “How are you doing on your book?” There will be too much pressure. I think what she was really saying is that you’ll care too much what people think.

But the New York Times says that publicly declaring your goal is supposed to work better than keeping it private. So I'm telling people. And that gives me some good practice not worrying about what people think!

December 24, 2014

Four-year-olds were given a marshmallow and told that they could eat it right away if they wanted. However, if they waited until the researcher came back into the room, they could have that marshmallow and another one too. Some kids covered their eyes, some sat on their hands, others distracted themselves from the marshmallow’s lure by singing or talking to themselves, thereby earning the bonus marshmallow. Other kids devoured the marshmallow the moment the researchers left the room.

I know for certain that I would have been the kid that waited and earned more marshmallows. As I described in that previous post, I used to make my Halloween candy last through Thanksgiving, metering out one portion of candy a day for as long as it lasted. Not many kids do that, I think.

Two of my girlfriends took me out to lunch this week for my birthday and we reminisced about our childhood Christmas traditions. Much like my approach to Halloween candy, I learned that my childhood approach to Christmas was not the norm either.

My friend from Ireland shared her memories. Apparently, Santa doesn’t wrap presents for kids in Ireland. When you wake up on Christmas morning, your gifts are right there, out in the open--sometimes right next to your bed to greet you first thing when you wake up. Only the presents from your parents are wrapped.

My other friend told me that in her family, they opened family gifts on Christmas Eve, and then Santa’s gifts first thing in the morning. Her presents were in the traditional spot. Here in the U.S. Santa comes down the chimney, eats his treats, and then leaves the wrapped gifts under the tree.

In both cases, when presents were opened, it was a free-for-all. Everyone opened their gifts at the same time and by 10 am, Christmas was over. Well the gift part anyway.

Not so in our house. And let me be clear--this was not driven by my parents. I ran the show when it came to Christmas. An only child, I was a bit bossy. Maybe I still am. But back then even my extended family indulged me.

So I made everyone wait to open gifts until after dinner. I didn’t want it to be over. I wanted the anticipation of gifts all through dinner. I wanted to save the best part for last. And, it was no free-for-all at our Christmas. I always played Santa, handing out one gift at a time for everyone to watch while the recipient opened his gift. It took hours and I loved every minute of it.

So it’s kind of a wonder that I don’t allow Christmas presents anymore at Christmas. For adult Sydney, it’s all about the dinner. We have a long cocktail hour and a leisurely dinner. I love all the preparation, and I don’t mind the clean up at all. I love having everyone over, in fact I prefer it to having others host holiday meals. I hate it when people try to help me clean up, and I have a hard time allowing people bring any food. I just want my guests to relax and enjoy. Since I have no stress from holiday shopping, I want everyone to enjoy an evening together, free from chores or stress. That is all I ever want for Christmas now.

December 21, 2014

(Photo Details: Doug and Syd dressed for a 70's disco party. Revisiting the era before the invention of the 401(k) plan.)

I have read a lot of agonizing over the years about our nation’s retirement crisis. Much of the blame is attributed to our move from mostly employer-funded defined benefit plans (pensions) to our newer, mostly self-funded 401(k) retirement system. The burden for saving for retirement has definitely shifted to the employee since the 401(k) provisions were introduced in the late 70’s.

According to this article, back in 1979, 62% of private sector employees with a retirement plan were only covered by a defined benefit plan—a steady income they could count on when they retired. By 2011 that number was down to 7%. Over that same period, the trajectory for 401(k) plans went from 16% to 69%.

I have a few friends that are in that minority, still covered by pension plans in their jobs. They may have accepted a smaller base salary than their private-sector peers, but they mostly feel like it is worth it because they will make up for it when they retire.

My sister-in-law is an administrator for a California school district. One of my friends is a public school teacher, another is an attorney for the State of California--and her husband works for the Environmental Protection Agency. All of them have plans to work until at least a specific age. They can each recite to me, “If I retire at 60, I’ll get X% of my salary as a pension; if I wait until 65, it will be Y%. And I get full medical benefits if I wait until at least age Z."

Ok, so back to all the hand wringing. By most accounts, people haven’t saved enough in their 401(k) plans, most folks don’t have pensions anymore, and a lot of people are also worried about Social Security’s solvency.

So of course people look back longingly to a time when pensions were the norm. If only we had the old pension system, we wouldn’t have this new retirement crisis.

I’m not sure the whole pension thing is really all it’s cracked up to be anymore.

Public-sector workers in Wisconsin, Detroit, and San Jose, California, to name a few, have all seen what they thought were guaranteed retirement benefits slashed. Would they have taken those jobs all those years ago if they had known how the real equation of salary plus benefits plus pension was going to work out? I’m not so sure.

But it’s not just public-sector workers who are at risk. It’s airlines, automakers, and now more than a million truck drivers, construction workers, and other union members. Congress just included a provision in the latest budget deal that changed the rules for certain multi-employer pension plans. Many of those plan paticipants will likely see those “guaranteed” pensions cut as well.

Earlier this year I talked to our flight attendant for a while on our way to Bangkok. She looked to be in her mid-60’s. She said she had planned on being retired by now but her retirement benefits were slashed when United Airlines’ bankruptcy crashed her pension. The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) stepped in, but they just insure that there will still be a pension payout, not that it will be as much as you thought.

Same situation with the innkeeper I met last month at a B&B in Santa Barbara. Perhaps she would still have taken the inkeeper job later in life, she was fabulous at it. But her airline pension, from a different airline, was similarly slashed.

Does this system still look so good, so safe, so dependable? At least with the 401(k) system, the nest egg you create is actually yours to keep. Sure, the market can slash that balance for you when we have a bear market like we experienced in 2008. But it should be clear to everyone by now, that that bear market also affected those “guaranteed” pensions.

Social Security payments can be changed by congress. The PBGC guarantee is only as good the insurance company’s ability to provide the backstop. And public-sector pension promises are only as good as politicians’ and taxpayers’ appetite for supporting that promise.

My 401(k) balance (which is now my IRA) is impacted by my own ability to save and invest—and of course market gyrations--that’s true. But I’ll take that risk any day over the additional risk of my retirement income being cut by a politician or corporate bankruptcy.

December 20, 2014

This guest post is written by David Downie, who was once an early retirement skeptic, but ultimately found himself retiring at the age of 38.

The following is an extract from his short ebook “Radical Immediate Retirement” (available from Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NP4U986), which he intends to be an easy to read book designed to motivate people to look harder at their options.

Taking stock and making the hard decisions

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.

Henry Thoreau, 1854

It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.

Voltaire, 1694-1778

Before you Radically and Immediately Retire you need to look honestly at where you stand from a financial, skill and health perspective. Of course retirement depends on all three of these – not just money (which is what your financial planner would have you believe[1]).

Financially you should consider the market value of everything you own (less your debts). That means everything, including your shitty (or glitzy) car AND your prized home (if you own one). It is worth looking at your home in particular, as that tends to be the most emotional of a person’s assets as well as the biggest money sink.

Yes, I know all of your friends have a house. Yes, I know that ‘losing the home’ is the biggest financial fear of most. But if you want to escape the nightmare, you’ve got to take a good hard look at yourself - as though you were advising yourself professionally. The problem – how to stop work immediately and only do the things that bring you satisfaction. The solution? Well, the solution might just involve your house.

What would you tell your friend who wanted to give up work if he had, say, a $500,000 mortgage and was paying it off with a $75,000 salary? It would be pretty darn obvious wouldn’t it?

He would sell the house, kill the debt, take the cash and solve the housing problem another way wouldn’t he?

Or perhaps he (or you!) could rent the house out? If you can rent the house out for say $25,000 a year, and have over $20,000 clear after expenses and taxes, then, guess what, if you can live on $20,000 a year then YOU ARE COMPLETELY RETIRED AND NEVER HAVE TO WORK AGAIN FOR MONEY.

That’s outrageous, you think. You could never live on $20,000 a year.

Couldn’t you? Almost every single person in the history of the world does. Most people alive at this very moment do. To them you would be a pension-carrying millionaire.

Are you that greedy that you aren’t happy living on an income that is greater than almost every person alive (when looking at things globally)?

Are you that inefficient?

Think for a moment. It’s 400 bucks a week. You wouldn’t have to work on things you didn’t want to work on. You could live at a beach resort that allowed camping forever on that amount. You could share a room. You could live in an RV or a tent. You could live in many lower cost countries easily on that amount. Like a rich person.

If you applied the sort of brain power that you clearly had to be able to pay the house off to living on 400 bucks a week don’t you think you could?

This is in effect what most of the early retirement crowd out there encourage you to do: save enough cash and invest it (typically in shares) so that the expected returns are enough for you to live off forever. What’s attractive about the combination of simple (efficient) living and saving the vast bulk of your salary is that if you are disciplined enough you can reach financial independence in as little as 5 years.

One of the giant brains out there who has been hugely influential to many is a fellow by the name of Jacob Fisker of www.earlyretirementextreme.com. He was working as a theoretical physicist (really) when he tired of it all and saved enough to retire forever some time after 3% of his investments covered his living expenses of $7,000 per year. He was 33 years of age when he retired.

Among other things Jacob has used his math brain to assert that a 3% withdrawal rate from your investments is likely to be sustainable over a lifetime (meaning that you shouldn’t run out of money and inflation is covered).

The paradox of this well-meaning fellow is that no later than two years after he ‘retired’, and having published some wonderful articles and a dense textbook about the freedom of not working in a cubicle for a living, he promptly went back to full time work in the financial sector! He has remained there for some years now.

That doesn’t detract from his writings though, and you should seek them out regardless of the approach you take. While his life is his to lead, it’s comforting that he has retained his financial independence (which perhaps is a better word than retirement when you swap one full time cubicle career for another), in the sense his expenses are more than covered by his passive income. He can literally do what he wants, and if what he wants to do (for now) provides him with cash then good for him!

Comparison with traditional early retirement

In fact, that’s the difference between the classic early retirement approach and Radical Immediate Retirement. Early retirees will typically tell you what everyone tells you – save money for retirement. They will also tell you to spend less. The more you save (and invest) and the less you spend the faster you will be able to live off your investments and retire to do as you will.

RIR, on the other hand, doesn’t involve any further capital accumulation (saving money in the hellhole for years). It’s about getting out right now.

It may well be that when you stop and consider what capital you have accumulated over your working life you are surprised with the outcome (the capital in your home for instance, when used as an investment rather than a money sink).

But regardless of what money you have, if any, if you have any spark in you whatsoever you are likely not to spend your life vegetating or playing golf. Instead you are going to do what takes your fancy. And if you are clever enough to have read this far, then chances are that deep down you are an interested and capable person who is going to use his or her newfound freedom to do some extremely cool stuff.

Some of that activity is likely to be income producing. The less money you have invested, and the less efficient you are at living, the more desirable an income producing activity will be. But in the most part, it is likely that you will just follow your interests, and commercialization opportunities will present themselves. In effect you will be learning new skills, having fun, and doing things that you get a jolly out of doing. It might be spending one day a week looking after guide dog puppies. It might be writing an ebook about pelicans you have rescued, or your year volunteering for board in the French countryside.

It could even be working in the finance sector – if you have an enormous and peculiar brain and enjoy that sort of thing. Or better still, starting an online business that gives you pleasure (in a boss and systems kind of way) – designing the whole thing from the ground up as being something that doesn’t demand much of your time.[2]

Either way, you have escaped the nightmare grind, freed yourself by living as efficiently as you have to given your skills and resources, and spending your time free to do the things you want to do. Depending on the frequency and nature of the commercialization, and your increasing skill set and resulting living efficiency, you may find you have cash left over which can be invested. That way, your passive income should increase in time with a resulting increase in lifestyle or decreased need for commercialization (depending on your fancy).

November 05, 2014

Ok, since we’ve already established that we retirees are at a higher risk of death from a falling injury than from Ebola, let’s do something proactive to reduce that risk. The great thing is that anything you can do to increase your fitness level helps prevent injury from falls and helps reduce the risk of the even greater probability of heart disease.

The thing is, we already know how to improve our fitness level. We’ve got to get more exercise. And that’s not fun for everyone. So I’ve got some ideas on how to make that more fun, or at least make it less of a chore.

First, go find out your “fitness age.” This was really fun for me because my fitness age turned out to be 28. According to researchers in Norway, a person’s fitness age is a better predictor of longevity than his or her chronological age. New York Times’ Gretchen Reynolds explains that fitness age “is determined primarily by your VO2max, which is a measure of your body’s ability to take in and utilize oxygen. VO2max indicates your current cardiovascular endurance.”

But most people don’t know their VO2max. That’s where the Norwegian researchers come in. It turns out that there is a strong correlation between VO2max and the answers to a few key questions. You can take the test here to find out your fitness age.

The good news is you can improve your fitness age with just about any exercise. As my chronological age has increased, I am more drawn to lifestyle exercise, such as walking or biking around my neighborhood, doing housework and yard work, or home-improvement projects like painting my house. I’m less interested in high-intensity organized fitness classes or gym workouts.

These lifestyle activities can be just as good. But when you do a workout at the gym, the little readout on the machine gives you instant feedback: how many calories you burned, how many miles you walked, or how many stairs you climbed. Cleaning the house results in a clean house, but not very much insight into how much exercise you achieved.

Which is why I love my Fitbit. For far less than a gym membership (as low as 60 bucks), you can buy one of these fun little gadgets that counts your steps, tells you how many calories you are burning, and even tells you how well you slept. And you get this feedback from all the things you do in daily life, not just the time you spend at the gym.

What makes it even more fun though, is that you can play with your friends. I have about a dozen friends with Fitbits and each day we can see who gets the most steps. Believe me, this does change your behavior. Even my husband Doug has us walk the long way to our destination or go on a little bonus walk in the evening if his steps are falling behind some of our friends.

And if you have an iPhone 5S or higher, you don’t even need to buy a Fitbit gadget, you can just download the free app. Although it will only count steps when you are actually carrying your phone, which will impact your ranking among your friends, of course. Besides the fact that I don’t have the right phone, I am too competitive for that to work for me.

Turns out you don’t have to have a competitive personality for this to motivate you though. According to this article, every single participant of one small study increased their activity when using a fitness tracker:

Can trackers really change behavior in people? Last year, Dr. Rajani Larocca, a primary care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, conducted a six-week lifestyle program for 10 patients with diabetes ages 50 to 70 that included weekly sessions to encourage exercise and healthful eating; each participant also was outfitted with a Fitbit Zip tracker.

“Every single person increased their activity,” Dr. Larocca said. “People felt more knowledgeable.” Eight months later, about half the patients from the group still wear a tracker.

Increasing your level of fitness not only helps prevent falls, it helps to prevent injury even if you do fall. According to this article, you can also reduce the risk of a fall by getting adequate vitamin D and staying properly hydrated. It also helps to integrate balance exercises into daily life--for example brushing your teeth while standing on one foot. I recommend flossing while standing on the other foot. Some evidence suggests a link between dental health and heart health so you might get double the benefit for this one.

-The only two to have contracted the disease in the U.S were nurses treating Thomas Duncan--the Liberian man who came to the U.S. having already been infected with the virus.

-The only Ebola patient in the U.S. that has died from the virus was Mr. Duncan, who was incorrectly diagnosed when he first sought treatment at an emergency room in Dallas, and was sent home. (It is instructive that none of the family members Mr. Duncan was staying with in that small apartment became infected. And they weren’t even wearing those protective space suits!)

-Doctors Without Borders has sent 700 doctors and aid workers to Ebola-stricken countries and three have become infected. By the way, we’ve been sending aid workers since this outbreak in March. There has been no huge outbreak here despite the fact that healthcare workers have been going there and coming back since early this year, long before the media started to sink their teeth into this story.

-The Ebola survival rate in developed countries is far higher than in underdeveloped nations. It’s not the virus, it’s the medical treatment. Guinea has about a 30% survival rate compared to our track record so far in the U.S. of between 80%-90% depending on how the doctor in New York fares.

Ok, so we’re all going to die from something at some point, right? The thing is, we'd just like to put that off as long as possible. Now the odds are overwhelming that Ebola is not going to be the thing that does you in. If you really want to put off death as long as possible focus here--according to this article, in the U.S.:

-Tens of thousands of people die each year in auto accidents, over half of them were not wearing their seatbelts.

-Skin cancer kills 10,000 people per year.

-During last flu season only 46% of Americans got vaccinated. Flu kills between 3,000 and 50,000 in this country each year depending on the year.

And finally, I know you won’t see this one splashed across all the networks tonight even though 75 million baby boomers will be at increased risk over the coming years for this epidemic. In 2012, more than 2.4 million people were treated in emergency rooms for this ailment, almost 24,000 of them died. In any case, we are all at risk for this one—it’s the number one injury related death for those over the age of 65: falls.

I know it’s not as sensational as Ebola, but if we are all lucky enough to put off death from flu, car accidents, heart disease, skin cancer, and of course Ebola, we will be fortunate enough to have to worry about falling.